Madagascar

Madagascar

An ongoing project by students in the College of Engineering's Humanitarian and Social Entrepreneurship program is helping Africans move beyond subsistence farming by developing affordable, inexpensive greenhouses.

Blind snakes have been discovered to be one of the few species now living in Madagascar that existed there when it broke away from India about 100 million years ago, according to a study that was published in the March 31 issue of the Royal Society journal Biology Letters. "Blindsnakes are not very pretty, are rarely noticed, and are often mistaken for earthworms, nonetheless, they tell a very interesting evolutionary story" said Blair Hedges, professor of biology at Penn State and a leader of the research team that made the discovery. Photos and more information are online at http://www.science.psu.edu/news-and-events/2010-news/Hedges3-2010.